| 1 ὅτι σὺν πᾶν τοῦτο ἔδωκα εἰς καρδίαν μου καὶ καρδία μου σὺν πᾶν εἶδεν τοῦτο ὡς οἱ δίκαιοι καὶ οἱ σοφοὶ καὶ ἐργασίαι αὐτῶν ἐν χειρὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καί γε ἀγάπην καί γε μῖσος οὐκ ἔστιν εἰδὼς ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὰ πάντα πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν 2 ματαιότης ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν συνάντημα ἓν τῷ δικαίῳ καὶ τῷ ἀσεβεῖ τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ καὶ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ καὶ τῷ θυσιάζοντι καὶ τῷ μὴ θυσιάζοντι ὡς ὁ ἀγαθός ὧς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων ὧς ὁ ὀμνύων καθὼς ὁ τὸν ὅρκον φοβούμενος 3 τοῦτο πονηρὸν ἐν παντὶ πεποιημένῳ ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον ὅτι συνάντημα ἓν τοῖς πᾶσιν καί γε καρδία υἱῶν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπληρώθη πονηροῦ καὶ περιφέρεια ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐν ζωῇ αὐτῶν καὶ ὀπίσω αὐτῶν πρὸς τοὺς νεκρούς 4 ὅτι τίς ὃς κοινωνεῖ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ζῶντας ἔστιν ἐλπίς ὅτι ὁ κύων ὁ ζῶν αὐτὸς ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ τὸν λέοντα τὸν νεκρόν 5 ὅτι οἱ ζῶντες γνώσονται ὅτι ἀποθανοῦνται καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ οὔκ εἰσιν γινώσκοντες οὐδέν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι μισθός ὅτι ἐπελήσθη ἡ μνήμη αὐτῶν 6 καί γε ἀγάπη αὐτῶν καί γε μῖσος αὐτῶν καί γε ζῆλος αὐτῶν ἤδη ἀπώλετο καὶ μερὶς οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς ἔτι εἰς αἰῶνα ἐν παντὶ τῷ πεποιημένῳ ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον |
1 All this, too, I pondered in my heart, and would spare no pains to find out the meaning of it. Here are upright men and wise; and every task of theirs is in God’s keeping, nor can any tell whether they have earned his love, or his displeasure! 2 This remains as yet uncertain, and meanwhile all have the same lot, upright and godless, good and wicked, clean and unclean alike. Brought they offerings or brought they none, well did they or ill, true swore they or false, it is all one. 3 Of all that goes amiss, here under the sun, nothing does more hurt than this equality of fortunes; what wonder if men’s hearts, while yet they live, are full of malice and defiance? And so they journey on to the grave. 4 Were but immortality the prize! But no, hope of that is none; living dog is better off than dead lion. 5 They live under sentence of death; and when death comes, of nothing will they be aware any longer; no reward can they receive, now that every trace of them has vanished away; 6 no love, no hatred, no envy can they feel; they have said good-bye to this world, and to all its busy doings, here under the sun. |
1
Omnia hæc tractavi in corde meo,
ut curiose intelligerem.
Sunt justi atque sapientes,
et opera eorum in manu Dei;
et tamen nescit homo utrum amore an odio dignus sit. 2
Sed omnia in futurum servantur incerta,
eo quod universa æque eveniant justo et impio,
bono et malo, mundo et immundo,
immolanti victimas et sacrificia contemnenti.
Sicut bonus, sic et peccator;
ut perjurus, ita et ille qui verum dejerat. 3
Hoc est pessimum inter omnia quæ sub sole fiunt:
quia eadem cunctis eveniunt.
Unde et corda filiorum hominum implentur malitia
et contemptu in vita sua,
et post hæc ad inferos deducentur. 4
Nemo est qui semper vivat, et qui hujus rei habeat fiduciam;
melior est canis vivus leone mortuo. 5
Viventes enim sciunt se esse morituros;
mortui vero nihil noverunt amplius,
nec habent ultra mercedem,
quia oblivioni tradita est memoria eorum. 6
Amor quoque, et odium, et invidiæ simul perierunt;
nec habent partem in hoc sæculo,
et in opere quod sub sole geritur. |